Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take it that the Deputy has in mind the Report of the Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015, chaired by Dr. Maurice Manning. As Deputies will be aware, in the new programme for a partnership Government, the Government stated its intention to reform Seanad Éireann and committed to pursuing implementation of the Manning report. The report was published last year and it is available on my Department's website. I welcomed the report when it was published and indicated that there needed to be a public and political discussion and consultation on it. On 5 May and again on 8 July 2015, statements on the report were made in Seanad Éireann with both the chair of the working group and former Senator Joe O'Toole, a member of the group, in attendance. I also met Opposition party leaders to discuss the report's contents in July 2015.

One of the report's recommendations was the establishment of an implementation group to oversee implementation of the reforms contained in the report. I agreed with a suggestion made in this House some time ago by Deputy Micheál Martin that the group should be based in the Oireachtas and should comprise members of the Dáil and Seanad from all parties and groups, with access to independent expert advice as required. The group should be tasked with advancing the reform process. I wrote to party leaders on 28 September last seeking their agreement to this approach and their intention to participate. Contacts are continuing with parties to finalise nominations with a view to having the group up and running as soon as possible. I gave a commitment to have a debate here in Dáil Éireann on the working group's report. This did not prove possible in the last Dáil but it is still my intention that the debate should take place as soon as possible.

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